Brown: Players responded well

Manager pleased with the response of his players after falling behind against Bristol Rovers@

Southend United manager Phil Brown was pleased with the way his side responded as they came from behind to draw with Bristol Rovers at Roots Hall on Friday night.

Matt Harrold’s goal in the 51st minute gave Rovers the lead, but Kevan Hurst equalised in the 66th minute, and Blues may well have gone on to win the game.

Brown says the response and character his side was pleasing, and gives them plenty to build on ahead of two tough away games against Oxford United and Burton Albion.

He said: “I sensed a little bit of negativity in the air and that might or might not have been getting to the players, so they did really well to respond having gone a goal behind.

“It was a disappointing goal from our point of view but we did well to get back in the game and Kevan Hurst really deserved that goal for his performance.

“I thought Ryan Leonard and Will Atkinson worked extremely hard in the middle of the park. We deserved to win the game, in my opinion, just as we did against Bury last weekend, but we’ve made it two games without defeat now.

“Losing Mark Phillips was tough, so early in the game, and Freddy Eastwood also came off just after half-time, but the players rallied and we had a few chances late on to win the game.

“We maybe just lacked a little bit of nous in the final third, which is disappointing.”

Brown was pleased with the impact of youngsters Jack Payne and Cauley Woodrow.

He added: “Jack is the smallest player on the pitch and but he has the biggest heart. All the players showed courage out there tonight.

“Cauley did well when he came on. Two of our most experienced players went off and an 18 year old and 20 year old came on, and they both had a say in the game.”